HEAT TRANSFER TO IMMISCIBLE LIQUID MIXTURES IN A SPIRAL PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER

This work presents new predictive correlations for heat transfer to immiscible liquid-liquid mixtures in a spiral plate heat exchanger. Liquid-liquid heat transfer studies were carried out in spiral plate heat exchangers for the water-octane, water-kerosene, and water-dodecane systems. For each composition of the mixture, the mass flow rate of the cold fluid was varied, keeping that of the hot fluid and the fluid inlet temperatures constant. Two-phase cold flow rates were in the laminar range, while the hot fluid flow was turbulent. Calculations of the LMTD (log mean temperature difference) correction factor showed that the flow was countercurrent. Heat transfer coefficients of the two-phase liquids were found to be strongly dependent on the composition of the liquid mixture and exhibited abrupt transitions as a function of the compositions. Given the absence of predictive correlations in the literature that sufficiently capture this composition-dependence, new empirical correlations were developed using part of the experimental data, with the composition of the cold fluid as an explicit variable. Statistical analysis of the regression yielded satisfactory results. The correlations were tested against the rest of the experimental data and were found to predict heat transfer coefficients within +/- 15%. These preliminary studies should be useful in designing compact exchangers for handling two-phase water-organics mixtures.